Hat Construction 1

I recently started working on an act that
involved hat manipulation. Many of the tricks that I wanted to do
involved catching and throwing balls from the hat as well as throwing
the hat itself. After several crashes and tears, it quickly became
apparent that the $65 hats that one can get from the normal prop
venders were not going to work, so I decided that I would have to
be able to build my own.

Now, I am not a milliner, so the way that
I built my hats are more along the lines of stage costuming techniques
rather than those for fashion. Keep in mind that this description
is how I am currently building my hats, not necessarily how it should
be done.

The process involves blocking felt onto a
form, blocking the brim onto a form, sewing the two together, coating
the hat with a latex paint, and finishing with a hat band.

I use only materials that were readily available
from the local fabric store, that I am sure that I can duplicate
the process at any time.

Some of the materials that I am using that
are sub optimal are:

Craft felt instead of Wool felt.

Elmer's Glue instead of blocking glue

Home made hat block instead of a professional
one

The synthetic craft felt works well enough
if used in several layers. Since I coat the hats with latex, the
glue that I use as a stiffening agent isn't exposed.

The resulting hat looks just fine from stage,
is fairly durable, completely customizable, and costs about $5 in
materials.

The first step is to buy, or build a hat
block. The block is the "mold" that you will stretch the
felt on. Each block is made for a single size, so you will want
one that fits your head.

I build mine out of 2x4 lumber that I edge
glued together. I then roughed the shape on a band saw, and finished
the shape on a disk sander. The block sits on a piece of plywood
and connects with dowels. When I stretch the felt, I stick the pins
into the edge of the plywood base.

It took a couple of iterations to get the
shape that I wanted based on the original hat style (bowler), but
now that I have one that I like, I am able to make as many hats
as I wish.

The block must be
divided into sections so that the felt can be removed. I used three
sections, so that once the felt dries, the middle section can be slipped
completely out, releasing the piece.

I know that it looks like a toilet seat...

Although you can form the brim by hand, I
built a block for the brim so that I could be sure of the size and
angle. The thickness of the ring determines the depth of the brim.
On the bottom side I glued several layers of cork so that the pins
would have something to grip.